The Manipulator
by A Strange Audacity
Summary: When A forces Hanna to kiss Toby, the repercussions are more than she could have imagined. Will Spencer and Toby and Hanna and Caleb find their ways back to each other, or will this blow simply be too big?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I like to read the PLL Wiki for theories, and an interesting one that I've encountered a lot in the past couple days is that something might happen between Toby and Hanna, thus making Spencer cry alone in her bedroom. As much as I don't like the possibility (I'm hardcore Spoby and Haleb, definitely), I have to admit, it's intriguing. And what do I do if I read an intriguing theory? Fic it, of course! **

**Anyway, this takes up after **_**That Girl is Poison **_**and during **_**The Remains of the 'A.'**_

Hanna Marin let out a low groan as she opened her new text, and her three best friends all glanced up in surprise.

"What is it, Han?" Aria Montgomery asked, lifting a strand of dark hair from her sweaty forehead. It was an unusually balmy September afternoon in Rosewood, Pennsylvania, and the four girls were studying for a psych exam outside of Spencer Hastings's grand estate – after their debacle with a certified lunatic junior year, the girls decided that learning a little more about psychology couldn't hurt.

"My mom." Hanna rolled her eyes in disdain. "She wants me to go to this church dance thingy."

"And that's bad because…." Emily Fields started. She had been going to church events since she was baptized at two weeks, and the suggestion wasn't anything good to her.

"_Because, _Em," Hanna raised two fingers in the air. "First of all, it's _church._" She lowered the first finger. "And I don't want to go to some dance; it's not like I have a date or anything."

The girls exchanged uncomfortable glances. Ever since Hanna and her longtime boyfriend, Caleb Rivers, broke up the week before, he had been a touchy topic, and Hanna glowered whenever her ex's name was brought up.

"So go stag," Spencer proposed. "It's not like any couples are going to be getting steamy there, anyway."

Hanna rolled her eyes again – it was one of her most experienced gestures. "It's noteveryone else who matters, Spence, it's _me. _I have appearances to keep up, you know."

"And how many people do you know who are actually going to be at this thing?" Aria parried.

Hanna heaved a sigh. "I'm getting to know them, that's the point. I don't want to look like a girl who can't land a stupid date for this thing."

"So borrow a date," Emily suggested.

"_Borrow?" _Hanna's brow furrowed. "And how exactly would that work?"

Emily shrugged. "Just ask a friend if you can borrow their boyfriend for the night."

"I have about three friends – you guys." Hanna looked at each one of them in turn. "Em, I'm not getting anyone from you." Emily nodded in assent. "Aria, I don't feel too much like dancing with my former English teacher."

"Fair enough." Aria's round, pink lips quirked up in a smile.

"And that leaves Toby," Spencer realized. She glanced up at the clouds, considering it for a moment, and then gave a consenting raise of her shoulder. "I'm fine with that."

"Toby?" Hanna's eyes narrowed. "I don't think he and I have ever said two words to each other.

"He seems like your only option," Spencer stated bluntly.

"Fine." Hanna nodded in resignation. "I'll go to this stupid dance with Toby."

•••

Two days later, they had figured out a trap for A, replacing the note in Garrett's mother's bracelet to instruct their anonymous foe to come to the church at the same time of the dance. And Hanna, whose pride could not be wounded, was walking side by side into the Rosewood Presbyterian Church with a charcoal-suit clad Toby Cavanaugh by her side.

Hanna figured that Toby wouldn't be enthusiastic to go out with her; they had never exactly gotten along, or, as she had pointed out earlier at the Hastings estate, said two words to each other, save for the time when Hanna confronted him about Jenna and he instructed her to shut up.

They weren't on the best first foot with each other.

But Spencer wielded power over Toby, and she could convince him to do just about anything – or, as the ever-eloquent Aria summed it up, after she heard the news, "whipped."

So now, they had arrived at the church, and the two had kept an uncomfortable silence, seeing as they had nothing to talk about.

Hanna's attention was rapt on the organ – she was desperate to take A down once and for all. After all the hell that she'd been through just since her senior year started was a nightmare, and she wanted it to be over for good. She was fired up, and there was no stopping her.

•••

As the evening unfolded, Hanna found that she was actually enjoying it far, far more than she expected. Toby was sweet, funny, and being a total gentleman – she could see why Spencer loved him so much.

They managed to get over the initial tension and make conversation, to the point where they were getting along, despite Hanna's initial worry. She could still keep an eye on the organ and dance at the same time (if she maneuvered Toby strategically enough, that is).

Hanna's phone buzzed in her purse, and she smiled apologetically at her dance partner and stepped away from the rest of everyone. _Please be Caleb, please be Caleb, _the voice inside her head chanted. She didn't _want _to think about him, especially since she was having such a nice evening away from him, but her shaggy-haired ex-beau had taken up a permanent residence in her mind.

She pulled out her iPhone and glanced at the screen. _New text from Unknown _were the words that flashed up at her.

_Oh, no._

Hanna opened up the text, and a nervous feeling stepped across her stomach.

_Your instructions are on the organ bench. Do as I say, or else. _

_-A._

She swallowed nervously and walked over to where the grand organ sat. A creamy envelope had her name spelled out in elegant calligraphy. Hanna hesitated for only a moment before ripping it open to reveal a short note.

_Kiss Spencer's BF or I just might finish off Caleb's mom this time. Oh, and you have two hours to do my bidding. Also, don't tell the other little liars about this, or Caleb's going with his mommy._

_Good luck, Hannakins! _

_-A._

Hanna felt like punching a wall and sobbing violently at the same time. Why? _Why? _Hadn't A screwed up her life enough? Wasn't the fact that she had already lost her best friend and boyfriend to this psycho stalker business already a punishment?

Now she had to lose Spencer, too – and the other girls.

Kiss Toby? How was she supposed to approach that? They were just hitting their stride as friends, and this would ruin that. Also, talk about _awkward! _She didn't just go around kissing people; it wasn't like she was very spontaneous.

Hanna cast a glance around the room, her focus landing on the organ. There was no sign of A, no sign at all. How had she been outsmarted again? This was supposed to be a foolproof plan, but, yet again, A had made her look like a fool.

"Hey," Toby said, approaching her. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Hanna blurted, stuffing her phone back in her purse. "Everything's fine. Totally fine."

"Good." He looked a little surprised at her sudden outburst. They went back to the dance floor, but Hanna's heart was racing too fast to enjoy the music. The last thing she wanted to do was betray her best friend, but a death seemed like a more serious deal than a kiss, no matter how much it would hurt.

An hour passed by, then another thirty minutes. Kids started to pile into cars and back home. Hanna's phone rang again, this time saying, _Tick tock! –A_

"I'm about ready to go," she muttered, feeling sick to her stomach. "Would you mind walking me out?"

"Sure," he replied easily. They wandered outside the grand oak doors of the church and into the parking lot, where the temperature had drastically dropped from the last time she had been outside.

"I had a nice time," Toby smiled, and started to walk away. "So, I'll see you around?"

"Wait." Hanna caught his arm, steeling herself for what was about to come.

Toby turned back around to her. "Yeah?"

Hanna put her hands on his shoulders, elevating herself, and planted a simple kiss on his lips. "Don't ask," she said quietly, and fled to her car, where she drove home, sobbing.

Fifty feet away from where Toby was still standing, speechless, a figure in a red trench coat looked through the photos that were captured of the kiss on an inconspicuous black phone, satisfied. The figure pressed the button to open the texting app and started a new one – to _Hastings, Spencer. _

**A/N: So what do you think? Tell me in a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to all for the kind words, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter just as much (if not more) than the last. **

Spencer sat on the floor of her bedroom, still numb with shock. She had so many questions running through her body: _Why would they do this? Does _he _have feelings for _her? _Does _she _have feelings for _him_? What the hell is wrong with them? _

Her stomach turned over and over itself in a blend of motley emotions: Betrayal. Anger. Jealousy. Nausea. Confusion. But most of all, she was just plain _hurt._

Not two minutes earlier, she had been completely oblivious to her bizarre new mix of feelings, humming along to her iPod as she translated Vergil for her Latin class – or, trying to fit in as much work as she could before Toby come over later that night, after the church dance ended. She had been so _happy, _feeling like she had been generous, sharing her boyfriend with her best friend for the night.

That was until her phone went off.

The only words the message contained were: _Maybe you shouldn't let Toby hang out with just anyone…. _And then there had been a photo attachment, showing the blonde latched onto her significantly taller date in a passionate embrace. And then there was that one foreboding, fear-invoking, alphabet-starting initial: _-A._

Tears flew down her face, emptying her eyes at a terrifying rate. This was solid proof that she didn't know either Hanna or Toby. Otherwise they wouldn't have done this to her.

And was this a one-time thing? Had they been hooking up and Spencer was just oblivious to it? Just the thought of the two of them together sickened her to no end. She couldn't make out their expressions perfectly in the picture (after all, their faces were smashed together), but they looked perfectly happy to her, like it was a natural thing to go behind her back and just start kissing.

Ten minutes later, Aria and Emily had both joined Spencer, wrapping their arms around her and murmuring how it was all going to be okay, but they kept shooting each other bewildered looks. Both had received the same image, except that their texts read: _Guess you can't trust anyone anymore…. –A. _

They were at a loss for theories about this latest development. As far as they had been concerned before, Toby was completely besotted with his girlfriend, and Hanna was still too hung up on Caleb to even _notice _the presence of other guys, let alone kiss them.

Spencer had barely said anything since they had arrived, and she didn't need to; her sobs conveyed her pain well. She had been stabbed in the back by two of her closest confidantes at once hurt her to no end, and she didn't know how long it would take to recover.

Around half an hour after the girls arrived at the grand Hastings manor, the doorbell rang. Peter, Veronica, and Melissa were all out, and since Spencer was in no state to greet a visitor, Emily quietly slipped down the stairs as the other two clung to each other.

Emily opened up the door to see a nervous-looking – but still dapper – Toby Cavanaugh standing on the Hastingses' front porch. She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again, not knowing what to say to her (now former) friend.

"Can I talk to Spencer?" he asked, searching her face. There was something wrong; he could tell that much, he just wasn't sure what it was yet.

"I don't think that she's really up to-"

"_Please." _He emphasized the word. "I really, really need to see her."

"And I don't think that she wants to see you." Emily's words were hard and final.

"Em." Toby caught her arm before she could close the door. "What the hell is going on?"

She scowled and flipped open her phone, pulling up the picture (but being careful to conceal the text itself) for Toby to see.

His openmouthed shock was hard to watch, which just sickened Emily more. It was like he thought that he could get away with it.

"I swear, I didn't – this isn't – I just need to talk to her, okay?"

"Save it," she snapped, and swung the grand front door shut.

Toby was forced to walk away, rejected by one of his closest friends, and, it seemed, his girlfriend (or was that _ex-_girlfriend?). His lips still tingled from where Hanna's had met them not even an hour before. Where had _that _come from, anyway? They had been having a perfectly good time, as friends, but then the kiss came out of absolutely nowhere.

And who had been close enough to them to photograph the whole thing? It was some sick mess, but Toby was going to get to the bottom of it. He climbed into his truck and his fingers flew across the keyboard, texting Spencer: _Just give me a chance to explain. _He waited a few minutes for a reply, then started to drive, resigning himself to the fact that she wouldn't reply. When his phone _did _go off, though, it was enough of a distraction that he didn't see the rapidly approaching headlights until the last second, before everything went dark…

•••

Hanna launched herself onto her bed and broke out in a fresh peal of sobs, horrified at her own actions, but knowing that there was no alternative. She knew that A had probably spread the word of the kiss to all the other girls by now, and that she could only just sit back and wait until the social ramifications approached her.

Actually, they already had. When she had checked her messages shortly after arriving home, she discovered two very irate voicemails from Aria and Emily, both demanding answers. The two of them had even deigned to de-friend her on Facebook, the ultimate rejection.

She knew that the only reason she wasn't hearing the same sort of outrage from Spencer was that the brunette was probably too miserable to do anything at the moment, though Hanna knew that it could only be a matter of time.

With one little kiss, she was pretty sure that she had just lost her best friends in the world.

Hanna cried herself to sleep that night, not caring that she had forgotten to take off her makeup, so she'd have _major _raccoon eyes in the morning, or that she was still in her stiff, uncomfortable yellow dress from the dance.

Nothing seemed to matter.

**A/N: Ooh, drama! Will Toby survive his accident? How will Spencer react to her former beau in danger again? Will she forgive Hanna and Toby? Will A ever taste some of his/her own medicine?**

**Tell me all your theories/opinions/compliments/criticisms in the review that I'm sure you'll leave below. **


	3. Chapter 3

Hanna stared at the mirror in shock. It was Monday morning, and her face was in a state of absolute disrepair. The night before, she had fallen asleep without using her full Kiehl's skin routine – _quelle horreur! _What's more, she had woken up thirty minutes late, having not bothered to set her alarm the night before, so she barely had any time to do her makeup or pick out any sort of a good outfit – so she was forced to throw on an old pair of jeans and a tank top in a color that wasn't even flattering.

Her mad rush to look decent for school distracted her from the events of the night before. Toby? _Toby? _She still couldn't believe what she had done, what A had forced her to do. This was unlike anything her text-stalker had done before, because she had to betray her friend – the _ultimate _betrayal. This was even worse than when she had been sent those museum tickets, because at least she was able to tell Aria afterwards. This was just a secret that she'd have to take to her grave.

Just the fact that Spencer and Emily – _and _her best friend in the world, Aria – hated her made her miserable. They had stood by each other through so much, but now Hanna had no one to rely on. It was like everyone had been taken from her – first Alison, then Mona, and Caleb, and the rest of the girls.

It was almost too much too handle.

But that didn't mean that she could cave into the pressure. She had to at _least _try to keep up appearances. "I'm Hanna and I'm fabulous," she said into the mirror, but even Mirror Hanna didn't believe it. Sometime she just couldn't lie to herself.

But nevertheless, she scooped up her Fendi bag and stuck her phone inside – she was going to face her fears.

•••

Aria fluffed Spencer's hair up, scrutinizing her best friend's condition. "You look good," she said, trying to make her voice sound truthful.

"Really?" the other girl asked, her voice still wobbly. "You can't tell that I was crying all night?"

The truth was, Spencer's eyes were still red and puffy, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears, ready to break out in sobs at any moment. Aria had managed to hide most of the damage with concealer and a hairbrush, but there was no covering up the fact that she had gotten no sleep the night before and that she was laden with heartache.

Emily had a curfew, so she had gone home the night before at eleven, leaving Aria to tend to their friend by herself. The Montgomery parents didn't care if their daughter stayed over at a friend's house on a school night, so long as that friend wasn't her of-age beau. So she had stayed with Spencer, lying awake as she contemplated everything that had gone wrong.

Aria still had a hard time believing that Hanna would stab Spencer in the back like that – sweet, naïve Hanna, who they had all known since elementary school. Something about it seemed so _wrong, _so forced. It just didn't seem anything like Hanna.

And then there was Toby – Aria didn't know him well, but she _did _know Spencer, and she tended to be an excellent judge of character. She wouldn't just pick some guy who would fall for her best friend easily.

This whole thing didn't make any sense.

As she was packing her bag for school, she picked up a small black item off of the floor – a phone. Spencer had thrown it across the room last night after she sent Toby an angry text, and it now had a slightly cracked screen from its hard landing. Aria turned it on and raised her eyebrows at the number of alerts it showed. A call and a few texts from Emily, two calls from Hanna (and she had left a message both times), and then: "Spence!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Spencer, who was struggling to fit all of her AP books into one backpack, glanced over to the other side of the room.

"Why did you get three calls from the hospital last night?"

Spencer grabbed the phone from Aria and looked down at it, shocked. She pulled up a message from Rosewood Memorial and held it up to her ear, listening intently. After she finished, she murmured, "Toby… he was in a car accident last night."

Aria wasn't sure how she should react – should she sound sympathetic? Neutral? Derisive? "Is – is he going to be alright?" she asked softly.

Spencer just shook her head. "I don't know." Part of her wanted to take a haughty demeanor, saying that he deserved it for the hell he was putting her through. But Spence couldn't act like she didn't care - even through all of the turmoil that had gone on with Hanna and the kiss, she still loved him. She knew that she was a fool, that it was ridiculous to feel that way, but human emotions are strange, complex affairs, and she didn't want to try to comprehend them.

She just wanted to get through a school day.

•••

At school, Hanna felt uncomfortable and out of place. She didn't have any friends to stand around and gossip with, anyone's locker to flock to, any boy to kiss passionately and make every other girl in school envy her.

It was the first time she had been in this situation, feeling friendless and unwanted. Well, the first time since junior high, when she had been a dumpy, unwanted loner who yearned to be one of the popular girls.

That was before Alison befriended her. Much as Hanna hated her for making all the girls uncomfortable with themselves and each other, she still revered the girl for being the effortless high school goddess that she was. Before Hana got in with her clique, Alison had always been the girl she aspired to be.

But now, she was wondering if it was all a ruse. Popularity, that was. Sure, she had been fairly unhappy with her life before she became a part of the in-crowd, but she had friends who really loved her for who she was.

And now that she was easily the most popular girl in the senior class, probably in all of Rosewood High, she hated herself and the world at large. She hated A, for forcing her to kiss Toby. She hated Mona, for making her constantly look over her shoulder. She hated Caleb, for not giving her more time. She hated her mother, for forcing her to go to that church dance and thus started this whole mess. She hated Mrs. Montgomery, for giving her essay a C when it was so clearly worthy of a B.

But that was going a little far.

That afternoon, in AP Biology (a class that Spencer had convinced her to take), Hanna was one of the first among the students there – she didn't have much to do in her spare time, so she was going from class to class quickly. She managed to get her books on the two-person table and organized before her lab partner sat down.

His chiseled features and mess of dark hair were unmistakable, and Hanna still felt little butterflies whenever she saw him. As Caleb took the stool beside her, he stared stonily ahead without saying a word.

This surprised her – they were on speaking terms, or at least polite enough to exchange a "Hi" at the beginning of class. "Did I… do something to offend you?" she wondered out loud. Despite their recent breakup, she could still count on Caleb to be honest with her.

"You're _seeing _Toby Cavanaugh?" he asked, his words overflowing with disgust. He still didn't even look at her as he said it.

"What?" she exclaimed loudly, causing their teacher, Mrs. Carr, to glare back at them ferociously. She dropped her voice significantly before saying: "Where did you even hear something like that?"

"I sit next to Spencer in math, we talk," he shrugged.

"Well. Spencer got it wrong," she replied, her voice laced with contempt. She understood that Spencer was furious with her, but Hanna wasn't a fan of having people talk behind her back.

"Really? Because she sounded pretty sure." Both started whispering as Mrs. Carr's lesson began.

"I don't think you should listen to her."

"Funny, I was kind of thinking the same thing." For once, he met her gaze. "I said, 'Hanna and Toby? That's crazy!' But then she showed me a photo of you two."

Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to think of an appropriate response. "That – it's not – we didn't-"

"Whatever, Hanna," he spat, and stared immersing himself in his notes.

•••

Immediately after biology, Hanna ran as fast as she could to the second-floor bathroom that barely anyone used and used a paper towel to blot the tears that had gathered in her eyes, which were now red-rimmed. As she heard the door swing open, she hurried quickly to make it look as if she was just washing her hands.

Now occupying the sink next to her was none other than Aria Montgomery.

"Hey," Aria said lightly, greeting her former best friend.

"H-hi," Hanna responded hesitantly. "I, um, didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah, well." The dark-haired girl's arms were now under a stream of cold water. "It's right across from the ceramics studio, and I needed to wash the clay off."

They stayed silent for a moment, neither sure what the appropriate conversational strategy in this situation was. Hanna just decided to delve right in. "How long are you going to be avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you."

Hanna raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I am." Aria rubbed the clay off of her arms with a bundle of paper towels. "But can you blame me?"

"No." Hanna shrunk as she examined herself under the fluorescent light.

"So there you have it."

Aria made a move to leave the bathroom, but Hanna stopped her, saying, "Wait."

The other girl turned reluctantly around. "Yeah?"

"Do you really believe it? That I would do that to Spencer?"

"I have the photo, Han!" Aria's tone was getting angry. "You _did _do that to Spencer."

The blonde let out a long breath. "It's not what it seems like."

"Yeah, sure."

"Aria!" Hanna's voice cracked. "Please don't shut me out."

But Aria just shook her head. "What choice do I have? We're supposed to be best friends, Han! We're supposed to tell each other everything! So why did you never tell me about this thing with Toby?"

"There is no thing with Toby," she tried to explain. "It was just – well, there was only – I don't know how I can talk about it."

Aria's voice dropped in volume, even though they were the only ones in the bathroom. "Does this have something to do with A? Did that bitch _make _you kiss him?"

It felt like there was a jagged knife cutting through Hanna, burning up her insides and forcing hot flashes of pain through her body. It took everything she had, thinking of Caleb and how he didn't deserve to die, for her to say, after a long wait, "No. It was just me."

Holding back sobs, she turned and left the bathroom, leaving Aria completely and utterly stunned.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you all for your kind words about this story, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter, too!**

Spencer plopped down on the sofa in her living room with a bowl of popcorn and three bottles of nail polish, aiming to distract herself from every little thing that had gone wrong in her life. Flipping through the channels, she realized that there were absolutely _no _good movies on, so she settled on the local news, which was always a good laugh - she liked to mock the studio's cheap lighting and the reporters' cheesy smiles.

They were wrapping up the entertainment section – Kristen Stewart cheated on Robert Pattinson; some lady was developing a _Now & Then_ TV show; et cetera. Spencer was just starting to apply a coat of pale pink onto her nails as _Breaking News! _flashed onto the screen, its pulsating letters lighting up the Hastings house.

"The victim of last night's bizarre hit-and-run has been identified," the anchor informed his viewers, grinning stupidly. "You may recognize him as being a suspect in the Alison DiLaurentis murder case last fall."

Spencer's head shot up at that. The words _Alison, DiLaurentis, _and _murder _always caught her attention.

"Toby Cavanaugh was found unconscious in his truck early this morning; his vehicle damaged beyond. Doctors didn't expect him to live, as he had clearly been there for several hours after being hit, but they report that he has made a 'miraculous recovery' and will be just fine."

Spencer's eyes bored holes into the TV's screen. She had gotten the voicemails about Toby being in a car accident, but she wasn't prepared to hear about it on the _news, _of all places. Her heart started racing abnormally fast, just as it had all of the other times she had thought about her ex-boyfriend that day.

"Police are currently trying to figure out the other driver who was involved, but Cavanaugh can't recall anything from the accident, and there are currently no suspects in the case."

She slammed her finger down on the power button and sat in fuming silence. She _wanted _to be furious at Toby, to say that he deserved what he had gotten, but instead, she just felt heartbroken that she wasn't by his side at that moment.

Spencer missed him like crazy.

•••

Just a neighborhood away, Hanna was watching the very same newscast with rapt attention while shoving spoonful after spoonful of Cherry Garcia ice cream into her mouth – she didn't have a date for homecoming, so she figured that she could let herself go just a _little _bit.

Hanna's first thought after hearing the news was _Why didn't Spencer tell me? _Then another struck: _Why _would _she tell you?_

Any other day, she would be on the phone with Aria, planning out their outfits for the next day, sitting on her bedroom floor with the other girls and trying to figure out her trig homework, or maybe enjoying a nice, steamy make-out session with Caleb.

But, of course, this wasn't any other day.

"Doctors at Rosewood Memorial Hospital are confident that Cavanaugh will be released tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest," the female co-anchor said, smiling so widely that the collagen injected into her lips bubbled up, making quite a frightening look.

As the four o'clock news ended, Hanna pulled out her biology assignment and started trying to make sense of it, but the farthest topic from her mind was cellular energetics. She heard the front door swing open and then slam closed.

Ashley Marin, walking into the kitchen, flicked her eyes to the large pint of rapidy-melting Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and then to her daughter's sweatpants and ratty old T-shirt. "Where are the girls?" she asked, hoping that she could encourage Hanna to have a social life.

"How should I know?" Hanna replied moodily, crunching loudly on a piece of chocolate.

"Aren't you with them _every _day?"

"I don't think that they're too interested in seeing me right now."

Ashley's brow creased. "Did you get in a fight with them?"

"You could say that." Hanna ran a hand through her messy blonde hair and grabbed her books. "I'm going up to my room to study."

"Alright." Ms. Marin could sense that there was something wrong with her daughter, something beyond a simple argument with her friends. "Be down at six for dinner, okay?"

"Whatever," Hanna called from halfway up the stairs. She settled onto her bed and blasted music into her ears, hoping that the dulcet tones of Maroon 5 would help to brighten her mood.

They didn't.

She couldn't help but think of poor Toby, who had been nothing but sweet to her the night before, and now probably hated her just as much as her friends now did. And he had been hit by a _car, _of all things.

As if the anonymous foe was some sort of freakish mind reader, Hanna's phone buzzed just as _Payphone _was getting into its chorus. _New message from Unknown, _it read.

She sighed and unlocked it, steeling herself for the latest bitchiness. However, as her eyes took in the words, Hanna felt an even greater feeling of dread than usual.

_Consider that your warning – just imagine what I would do to Caleb if you annoy me._

_-A._

Hanna felt sick – since when was attempted murder a warning? She wanted to race over to one of the other girls' houses and tell them everything, but she didn't have anyone at this point who might be somewhat sympathetic.

•••

Just before noon the next day, light seeped into the cozy studio apartment above The Brew, Rosewood's most popular new coffee shop. Toby Cavanaugh swung the front door open, happy to be back home. The exposed brick walls and half-made bed felt far more natural than the bleak, white hospital room that he had spent the last two nights in.

Everything still hurt – if he moved any muscle the wrong way, pain rippled through him and he felt incredibly weak, like he had no control over anything.

Of course, he didn't _seem _to have any control over anything.

The night of the dance was still a hazy memory. He could recall going to Spencer's house and talking to Emily, then climbing into his truck and taking one peek – one _tiny _peek – at his cell phone, and then, as soon as he looked back up, there was a car coming straight towards him.

From what the doctors had told him, he had stayed, unconscious, in his truck for several hours before a resident of the block had reported a destroyed vehicle blocking her driveway.

That was another twist of the knife in this awful situation – there was no saving his truck, his last connection to Spencer. She hadn't once called him or visited him in the hospital to see how he was recovering. Toby had come to the realization that things were over – really, terribly over.

And that brought up a few huge questions. Why had Hanna kissed him? And who could have gotten a photo of it?

Toby knew that there was only one person who could answer his questions, and he was ready to text her.

**A/N: I promise that I'll be a better updater... I've been a little lazy as of late. :P **

**Anyway, you know the drill - leave me a review, and I will be eternally grateful to you.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for the delay; I would have uploaded it this morning, but I was interrupted by an early rising time, some anesthesia, McDonald's fries (my favorite junk food in the world!) and trying to write a speech for this school function thingy I have to speak at tomorrow night.**

**The life of a fanfiction author can be crazy, right? **

**BUT, this has definitely been my favorite chapter to write (as well as the longest one yet) – a first date, a new friendship, and some lying on Aria's part are all involved. I hope you enjoy!**

Spencer took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves as she walked through the sleek double doors of Rosewood Memorial Hospital. The small, uncomfortable chairs arranged in strict lines around the waiting room brought back too many memories of the hospital over the past year – from Hanna being hit by Mona's car to Emily's stomach ulcer to Toby's broken arm – Spencer would be happy if she never saw the inside of _any _sort of medical building again.

"Spencer?" she heard a smooth, familiar British accented-voice ask. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi," she smiled at the doctor, grateful to see the familiar face – even if it _did _belong to her former flame. "Do you know what room Toby's in? I'm here to talk to him?" She had come to a decision about Toby: she needed to talk to him. She needed answers. She needed some sort of closure.

"The carpenter?" Wren's brow furrowed. "He left earlier this morning."

"Oh." Spencer's heart sank. She had expected to at least _hear _something from Toby once he got out.

"He didn't tell you?"

"Yeah, well." She blinked away the tears that were quickly forming in her eyes. "We haven't really been communicating much lately."

"An argument?"

"More like utter stupidity on his side resulting in the end of our relationship."

"I see." There was a pause in the conversation for a moment, before he asked, "Would you like to grab a coffee sometime?"

Spencer was ready to turn him down – _Oh, we just ended things, I don't think I'm ready yet _would have been the appropriate response. But she knew that it was time to stop playing the victim. Yes, her best friend and boyfriend had both betrayed her, and in the same night. Yes, she was still an emotional mess from the trauma of it all. But here she was, with a handsome, smart, successful man asking her out on a date; she was in no position to turn him down.

"I'd love to," she answered, forcing an enthusiastic smile onto her face. "When works for you?"

"My shift ends in fifteen minutes," he said with a little grin. "Shall we meet up at The Brew then?"

She gave him a little nod, turned on her heel, and walked out of the hospital.

•••

Two hours earlier, Hanna paced around The Brew, sipping her nonfat latte anxiously. She had gotten a text from Toby asking to meet up there, and she had considered making up some excuse for why she wouldn't be able to make it. But Hanna had realized pretty quickly that she _had _to tell him something sooner or later about what had happened the night of the church dance.

So here she was, munching on a stale-tasting biscotti to soothe her nerves. Hanna still had absolutely _no _idea what she was going to say to Toby, how she would try to explain the kiss. She had always been good at lying, but they tended to be easy white lies, not I-have-a-justifiable-reason-for-ruining-your-relationship lies.

"Hanna."

She turned around and sucked her breath in as he walked towards her. "Hi, Toby." His mouth was twisted in a scowl, and he looked exhausted.

They sat down together at a table in a quiet corner of the shop. "I think you owe me a few answers," he said, his tone hard.

"Look," she replied, lowering her tone, "I'd love to give them to you, but that's really not an option."

"That's basically the same thing Spencer said," he noted. "I'm assuming you four are in this together?"

Hanna sighed. "We were; I'm not really sure if they want anything to do with me now."

"But you were always so close."

"Things happen," she said with a little shrug. "And, frankly, I'm not sure if it's any of your business."

"But it is." A steely glint flashed in his blue eyes. "I need to know who could have _possibly _taken a picture of that kiss – and why you went and kissed me in the first time!"

"Toby." She shut her eyes for a moment and sighed deeply. "I want to tell you, I really do. I just _can't." _With that, she stood up from the table – but her purse hit the chair, and some of the contents flew out: her lip gloss, her cell phone, and the letter that she had stuck in there the night of the dance.

His eyes flicked to the cream-colored sheet of paper, and, before Hanna could stop him, his eyes had already started to absorb it. A few lines in, when he realized that it was something serious, he grabbed onto it and read it over and over and over. When he had finally digested the information, he just met Hanna's gaze slowly, his voice hollow. "A's back?"

"Can we, um, go somewhere, you know… less public?" Hanna's stomach churned worriedly. A's letter didn't explicitly mention not telling Toby, but she was still scared of him knowing.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to come up to my apartment?"

She nodded gratefully and slipped up the staircase, not uttering a word to each other until his door was firmly closed.

•••

Back downstairs, Spencer and Wren came inside the doors to The Brew together, laughing. "So he was just _wandering _around the third floor?" the former asked incredulously.

"Hospital gown and all!" he confirmed with a grin. "He kept going on about winning a bout of Scrabble with his grandmother. What a goofball, right?"

Spencer's heart panged uncomfortably. _Scrabble _and _goofball _in two sentences together… it was like Wren was purposely trying to make her sob. It wasn't his fault, of course; he had been the perfect gentleman for all of the twenty minutes they had spent together so far. She just had so many memories with Toby, so many moments that she could never let go, to enjoy a date. She wondered if, in thirty years, she would still recall her time with him so easily. It was a curse.

Nevertheless, she put on a brave face, and tried to have the best time she possibly could, and it turned out that letting go actually helped. Spencer had forgotten how sweet Wren was, how he always made sure that everything was tailored to her taste just so – he even remembered that she liked her coffee with an abundance of cream and only the tiniest pinch of sugar from the brief time that they had lived together.

"You know, I can't believe that it took us so long to do this," she said with a little laugh. "What ever happened?"

"We never got the timing right," he answered simply.

"Oh, yeah… like that time you were engaged to my sister. _Great _decision on your part by the way," she replied, giggling more this time.

"And how was I to know that she would have such a stunning sister?"

Spencer felt heat rise to her cheeks. It felt nice to be flirted with outrageously, and especially by practically the only person in town who she had never suspected of murder _or _being A. Really, he was perfect.

They continued to chat – and flirt – for about an hour, until their coffees were long gone and the scones that had sat on the plates before them were nothing but crumbs.

•••

Toby and Hanna came back down into the main coffee shop, Hanna's eyes still slightly moist with tears. She didn't think that she had ever spilled her guts to someone so openly before, and it felt… strange – too foreign to be good. She had to admit, though, Toby was an excellent listener, and he had sat through every confession she had to make. Hanna had kept some things secret though – "that night," for example, was something that she could never mention to anyone without the girls' approval.

Suddenly, though, as he was walking her out, Toby froze cold right in the middle of the café. "What is it?" she asked, turning to face wherever he was staring. She figured it out instantly: Spencer was sitting at a small, cozy table with Wren, and leaning very closely to him. Toby's hands balled into fists, and he started to walk towards them, but Hanna caught his wrist first. "Don't," she warned. "Do you think you can make it any better?"

"Fine," he muttered, but the rage in his eyes didn't disappear as they stepped into the balmy not-quite-summer, not-quite-fall afternoon before Spencer could see them. "So, I'll talk to you soon?"

"Yeah." She gave him a grateful smile and watched as he turned around and started to walk back into the shop. "And Toby?"

"Yeah?" His head whipped around to face her.

"Thanks," she said simply. "I really needed that."

He gave her a little nod and headed back inside. Hanna could tell, based on their conversation, that he was mad. Mad at who, exactly, she couldn't tell – Spencer, for lying to him, yet again? A, for ruining his relationship for the second time in less than a year? The world in general, for being such a screwed up place to live in?

But one thing was clear – Hanna had at least one friend in this mess, and she was thankful for that.

•••

Later that night, as Hanna was silently washing dishes in her kitchen (Mrs. Marin was going to be late from work, so she had advised her daughter to go ahead and eat), the doorbell to the front door rang, so she dried her hands of suds, prepared to sign for a UPS package.

What she found, however, was not a box from Amazon; instead, a petite, dark-haired figure stood on her porch. "Aria," Hanna said, shocked. "What… what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you," the other girl answered, offering her former friend a little smile. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." Hanna swung her white door open, and the girls walked into the kitchen. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Here's the thing," Aria replied, taking a stool at the island. "I know you, Hanna. I like to think that I know you better than pretty much anyone else in the world. And when we were talking in the bathroom the other day, I know that you were keeping something from me."

"Oh." The blonde's heart sank. "I don't really want to-"

"I know. But I don't want to give up on you. You're my best friend, and I owe it to you just as much as I owe it to Spencer to be there for you right now, even if I don't exactly like what you did."

"Really?" Hanna's eyes filled with tears.

Aria nodded, and pulled her best friend in for a tight hug. "That being said," she continued after they broke away from their embrace, "I need your help with something."

"Anything."

"I'm going to this museum benefit thingy with Ezra's mom tomorrow night-"

"Meeting the mother?" She smiled. "Wow! It's only been what, thirteen months?"

Aria laughed. "So I need to find something super-classy to wear, and my wardrobe, is, well, lacking. I was planning on going to the mall, but you know how much I hate them, so I could really use some company while I try on all the dresses."

Hanna laughed. "I would love to. So, do you want to go…?"

"Right now is perfect."

"Excellent!"

They climbed into Aria's car, and the brunette even let the other girl pick the radio station, so, before they knew it, they were belting out the lyrics to _Call Me Maybe. _

"Wait," Hanna interrupted after a few minutes of driving. "Shouldn't you have turned for the mall last block?"

"Yep." Aria's determined gaze didn't falter from the road.

"Where are we going?"

"The Hastingses."

"_What?"_

"You and Spencer need to talk this out."

**A/N: You are most encouraged to leave a review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello again, everyone! Sorry for the delay, I started school last week (yay for finally making it to the eighth grade, right?) and things have been more than a little crazy.  
**

**Anyway, this chapter has some much-needed confrontations between Spencer and Hanna and Spencer and Toby. Enjoy!  
**

Hanna's palms began to grow sweaty and her heart started racing. "I don't _want _to talk to Spencer," she said, panicking. There was no way that she could face her former friend, much less try to make things right with her.

"But you need to," Aria replied, a steely look of determination crossing her hazel eyes. "You guys have to talk things out."

"So everything you said back at my house was a joke?" Hanna asked, stung. "You just wanted to get me in the car?"

"No," Aria sighed, locking eyes with her passenger for the first time in the ride. "You _know _that I care about you, Han, and after all of the hell that we've gone through together, I seriously want to see you happy. But I don't think that you _can _be happy without working this mess out."

The other girl shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing furiously. "If you do care about me, you're not going to make me do this." Hanna _loved _confrontation; as Rosewood High's resident drama queen, she was always involved in some. But this was different – with this, she couldn't take her Queen Bitch position and invoke the fear of popularity in others. This was _Spencer – _her best friend. There was no way that she could talk to her.

"We're doing this," the brunette answered, her tone hard and final.

The car was quiet for a minute, save for One Direction's boy-band melodies blaring out of the speakers. Hanna, having lost her sing-along mood a long time ago, asked, "Does Spencer know that we're coming?"

"No," Aria admitted, sharply turning the steering wheel so that they entered a tree-lined, leaf-covered residential drive.

"So," Hanna added, trying to find a way out of the meeting, "maybe she's not even home!"

"I took care of that already," the other girl replied. _Of course you did, _Hanna thought with a sigh. "Em's over there, distracting her with homework help."

"Emily's in on this, too?" Hanna cried. Of the four, Em seemed the least likely to be involved in plotting or scheming of any kind.

"She feels the same way I do: that you two need to figure this out." With that, Aria's car pulled up to the Hastings family mansion and the girls walked up the driveway, Hanna's breaths growing sharp and frequent as she thought about what she could possibly try to say.

They cut through the well-landscaped yard and into the large, light-flooded kitchen, where footsteps pounding down the stairs could be heard. "Hey, Aria!" Spencer's voice called. "Okay, so I looked at…" Her voice trailed off once she stepped into the kitchen, Emily a few steps behind her. "What's _she _doing here?" Spencer asked, her hard gaze settling on Hanna.

"Just for the record," the blonde replied, holding up a hand, "this was not _my _idea."

"So what are you doing in my house?" Spencer countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I brought her here," Aria interrupted, looking a tiny bit sheepish.

"_Why?!" _Spencer cried, her eyes wide and upset.

"Because you two need to talk about everything that's happened," Emily said calmly, trying to keep her expression even.

"So you just planned this without telling me," Spencer snapped. "So much for Team Sparia!"

Emily took Aria's arm. "We're just going to be in your room, okay?" The two practically ran up the stairs in an attempt to get out of the uncomfortable situation.

Both of the other girls watched their friends disappear for a minute, before Spencer turned to Hanna, a dark scowl on her face. "Talk," she demanded bluntly.

Hanna opened her mouth and then closed it again, swallowing hard. "I'm not sure- I mean, I don't exactly know where to-" Her voice trailed off, leaving the words hanging in the air.

"So why don't I start for you?" the brunette asked icily. "You were sneaking around with my boyfriend _while _pretending to be all torn up about Caleb. You had us _all _thinking that we should pity you."

"I wasn't 'pretending to be torn up' about him!" Hanna exclaimed. "It really did hurt!"

"Yeah, it hurt so much that you had to take the _one _guy in this town who you shouldn't have! Seriously, why _him_? You could have gotten any guy in Rosewood, you _know _you could have, but you had to take mine."

"I didn't _take _your freaking boyfriend, Spencer!" Hanna knew that she was the guilty one in the situation, but she couldn't help but be defensive. "It was one kiss, one _tiny _little kiss!"

"And why should I trust you?" Spencer's tone was scarily quiet. "Why should I trust anything that you say anymore?"

Hanna threw her hands up in the air, sick of playing the victim. "I don't know, because we've been best friends for years? Because we've been through _everything _together? Because I trust you more than about anyone else, so you should do the same for me?"

"Yeah, well, maybe it was time for our friendship to die out anyway," the other girl snapped. "You've always been the queen bee, the head bitch. Why should I have thought that those mean girl tactics wouldn't extend to me?"

"Oh, please." Hanna rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one who goes around accusing everyone in this town of _murder!" _

"Yeah, well, at least I _try _to figure out who killed them! You just sit around whining that your cuticles are too big and your pores are too huge. There's more to life than appearance, you know."

"Guys." Aria and Emily came down the stairs, ready to break up the fight.

But neither of the others heard, or, for that matter, cared. Both were riled up already. "You know what, Spencer?" Hanna asked angrily. "I have more problems than you could ever _dream _about. You have no _idea _everything that I have to put up with."

"Maybe," Spencer replied coolly, "if we were friends, like I _thought _we were supposed to be, you would actually tell me those things."

"We _were _friends."

"Well, if that's what friendship means to you, maybe I can see why Mona did what she did."

Hanna took in a long, slow breath, feeling like she had the wind knocked out of you. "How _dare _you," she started quietly, "bring up Mona."

"Come _on!" _Emily exclaimed, standing in between the two. "Stop it already! You two are supposed to be making up, not finding new problems to fight about."

"That is _not _happening," Spencer said roughly. "You-" she gestured to Hanna – "get out of my house. _Now." _

Hanna cast her best superior glance on the three other girls and went on to storm out of the Hastings kitchen, trying to hold back the tears that were freely flowing down her face. If only Spencer knew, knew about the letter from A, how much emotional torture Hanna had been going through ever since Caleb broke up with her.

And now, she had basically messed up any chance she had to make up with the others. Not that, at that point, it really mattered much to her – bringing up Mona was a low blow, and Spencer should have known better.

But still – Hanna missed her old friends. Badly. She only wished that she knew how to get them back.

•••

Later on that evening, once Emily and Aria had gone home, Spencer walked out the same back door that Hanna had slammed just a few hours earlier. She needed to talk to someone rational and unbiased. A few days earlier, that person would have been Toby, but _that _clearly wouldn't work anymore, so she headed to someone who shared the same mindset as her, and not by chance, either – by genetics. So, pea coat on, she walked down the tree-lined drive to the DiLaurentis house, where she needed to vent to Jason.

As she started to walk up the sidewalk to Jason's house, a figure emerged from the bushes. Always on the jumpy side, Spencer spun around immediately to see who it was, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw who it was. "T-toby," she stammered, suddenly overcome by shyness. "What are you, um… what are you doing here?"

Toby's blue eyes met hers for only a second. "I'm doing some work for Jason; he's trying to convert his shed."

"Oh." Spencer looked down at her shoes. "Is Jason here right now?"

"No, he always works late on Wednesday nights. He called ahead for me to get started."

"Yeah, um, right." She cursed herself quietly for forgetting about Jason's strange work schedule. "So I should probably go, then."

"Sure."

Spencer's gaze lingered on her ex-boyfriend for one more moment, and she wished that he was in the same state he was when he did some of his best work: _shirtless. _But, unfortunately, he was fully clothed.

She turned around and started to walk away, but stopped when his quiet but strong voice penetrated the air. "Are you really going to go out with that Wren guy?"

Spencer turned around and sighed. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because he's ten years older than you and, frankly, kind of a creep?" Toby's expression stayed calm and unwavering, but there was no misinterpreting the angry side to his voice.

"I can trust him, and, really, that's more than I can say a lot of guys."

A sad look crossed his eyes. "Goodbye, Spencer."

"Bye, Toby." She stuck her hands in her pockets, and spun around one more time to say, "And for the record, he's only _nine _years older."

He shook his head as he watched her stride back down the road towards her own house. No matter what had gone on between them, he loved that she never backed down from an argument.

**A/N: What did you think? Tell me in a review!**


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